Flicker (Deluxe)
(Explicit)

Following ex-One Direction mates Harry Styles and Zayn Malik into longplayer land, Horan starts out tracing the Timberlake template in “On the Loose,” a blue-eyed lite funk warning about a treacherous gal. But from there he gets increasingly ballady, for approximately three-quarters of the album proper, his emo-dipped inflections occasionally hinting at an Irish brogue. “Slow Hands” grooves a pinch, and “Seeing Blind” co-stars Maren Morris. But though Horan claims ‘70s California soft-rock as an inspiration, he’s more Robbie Williams or post-‘80s Elton John, give or take the title song’s briefly Fleetwood Macking guitar kickoff. Not until the deluxe version’s three bonus cuts does he rough it up a little – nudging toward U2, maybe, or getting jiggy for pub drinkers in “On My Own.”